St. Cloud Man Charged With Child Pornography Possession [VIDEO]

ST. CLOUD -- A St. Cloud man is charged with five felony counts of possessing child pornography after an investigation that started in 2015.

Stearns County Jail booking photo

St. Cloud Police began helping investigate 46-year-old Matthew Hall for possessing child porn early last year. At the same time, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating CyberTips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Multiple tips were made by private citizens and forwarded to the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Search warrants and subpoenas turned up images of young boys in sexual situations in images stored on Hall's cellphone. Court records show Hall admitted to having the images on his phone and had a sexual interest in boys ages 10-13, but claimed he did not wish to act on that interest.

During the investigation, BCA agents learned Hall had a new phone and continued to upload child pornography to that phone using various open Wi-Fi connections in his apartment building. Officers ultimately seized the second cell phone and located the images.

Hall is scheduled to make his first appearance in Stearns County District Court Monday.